Striatal medium spiny neurons are organized into two interdigitated compartments, the striosome and matrix, which are embryologically, pharmacologically, and anatomically distinct. Compartment-specific functions have been demonstrated in animals, but their roles in human cognition are unexplored.We found that in humans, striosome-like voxels preferentially activated during memory cues, while matrix-like voxels preferentially activated during recall and memory maintenance. In both compartments, activation scaled with task difficulty.Activation in striosome-like voxels scaled more strongly with task accuracy and difficulty, suggesting a striosome-selective role in vigilance and/or motivation.
Sadiq et al. (Thu,) studied this question.